By Marco Fernandes and Sergei Monin
Rescue workers concluded on Saturday, search operations at the site of the bombing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a student dormitory in Starobelsk, in the Lugansk region. According to the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations press service, the bodies of 21 victims were found.
“The search operations in Starobilsk, at the site of the collapse of the dormitory of the Pedagogical University of Luhansk, have been completed. All the bodies of the victims were recovered from the rubble. A total of 63 people were injured, 21 of whom died,” the statement read.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the countries of the West for not condemning the Ukrainian attack on the student dormitory.
“We have not seen any action that could be perceived as a condemnation of this barbaric terrorist attack against young people. That’s all that can be said in this context,” Peskov said.
A Ukrainian drone strike in the Lugansk region, at dawn last Friday (22), hit a student dormitory. Initially, it was reported that six children had died, but local authorities reported that there were still others under the rubble. On Saturday (23), the searches were completed and the Lugansk region declared an official mourning on 24 and 25.
The territory of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, located in eastern Ukraine, was formally annexed by Russia in September 2022, along with the regions of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporyzhye. However, Moscow does not have full control of the region, where intense fighting takes place on the front line of the conflict.
Foreign journalists visit site of attack
More than 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries travelled to Starobelsk after the Ukraine Armed Forces attack. The report of Brazil de Fato was present in the entourage organized by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On Monday, Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov said several Western media outlets had decided not to travel to Starobelsk to observe the site of the attack.
“We noticed that several Western media outlets have decided not to go there under various pretexts. This does not favor the image of these vehicles; it does not add credibility to the information they disclose,” Peskov said.
In welcoming international correspondents, Lugansk Governor Leonid Pasechnik stated that “the lives of children are untouchable, there is no justification for acts like this.”
“First time so many young people are murdered […]. Violent attacks by fascists like this are unacceptable in the 21st century, but we will find the culprits and judge them according to international laws, because it is a war crime. The parents of these young people could not understand why these attacks happened,” he said.
Russia’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Yana Lantrapova, accused the Ukrainian government of lying about the drone bombing launched in Lugansk. Kiev had claimed that the attack targeted Russian military installations.
“You can see the hypocrisy, the lies. You only see the belongings of children, of civilians; there are no military installations or military personnel in there, it was just a school. These children wanted to become teachers, engineers, programmers; they wanted to have a future, they were creative, but their life was shortened.”
At the time of the attack, 86 teenagers were in the dorm. It was declared a state of emergency in the city. Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the incident as a “monstrous crime of the Kiev regime,” while Russian President Vladimir Putin called the bombing a terrorist attack and instructed the Defense Ministry to prepare response proposals.
Russian retaliation
On Sunday, 24, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with the hypersonic missile “Oreshnik”. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack involved 600 drones and 90 missiles, of which 549 and 55 were intercepted, respectively.
Attacks have taken place near government buildings, schools, university and residential buildings leaving four dead and 55 injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed that the massive attack with missiles and drones, including the Oreshnik missile, targeted military targets. Moscow has not commented on the damage in Kiev and the civilian casualties.
